Fonterra Australia-NZ boss leaves after regional rejig

Fonterra Australia-NZ boss leaves after regional
rejig

Nov. 29 (BusinessDesk) -
Fonterra Cooperative Group’s Australia New Zealand
managing director John Doumani will leave the dairy exporter
after the company rejigged its regional boundaries.

The
cooperative, fresh from raising $525 million through its
shareholders' fund to reduce shareholder redemption risk,
has reorganised its consumer businesses to combine Australia
and New Zealand with the ASEAN/Middle East/North Africa
unit, it said in a statement. Sydney-based Doumani signalled
he will leave the dairy exporter in March next year due to
the restructuring, it said.

"Our businesses across Asia
Pacific represents around 40 percent of our earnings and are
vital to the cooperative," chief executive Theo Spierings
said.

"There are big growth opportunities in the emerging
markets of Asia and Middle East, and some challenges to
address in our home markets of Australia and New Zealand,
and our strategy requires us to address both," he said.

Under new chief Spierings, the cooperative expanded its
senior management team with a greater regional focus to
latch on to opportunities in emerging markets. Fonterra
management previously operated under large silos headed up
by handful of executives, and the dairy exporter wanted to
reduce the complexity and potential for duplication under
the existing model.

The new Asia Pacific/Middle
East/Africa unit will be headed by Mark Wilson, Fonterra's
existing managing director of ASEA/Middle East/North Africa,
effective from January.

"Mark Wilson is a very
experienced global business leader who has grown our Asian
business from strength to strength and we know he will do a
great job in this expanded new role," Spierings said.

Yesterday, Fonterra said it will open its first official
operating office in Delhi, India next year, with Hamish
Gowans appointed general manager in India.

Last week the
dairy exporter scotched speculation it was among bidders for
a controlling stake in India's Tirumala Milk Products.

The Wellington-based BusinessDesk team led by former Bloomberg Asian top editor Jonathan Underhill and Qantas Award-winning journalist and commentator Pattrick Smellie provides a daily news feed for a serious business audience.

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